Patterning mechanism for circular knitting machines



May 19, 1970 QHEOB ETAL I 3,512,376

PATTERNING MECHANISM FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES Filed March 5, 1968 2 Fig-.1.

vi a 5 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ma le, 1970 v QHECOB ETAL 3,512,376

v PATTERNING MECHANISM FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES Filed. March 5, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 May'19, 1970 o. H. ECOB ETA!- 3,512,376

I PATTERNING MECHANISM FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES Filed March 5, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 PATTERNING MECHANISM FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES Filed March 5, 1968 May 19, 1970 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 United States Patent 3,512,376 PATTERNING MECHANISM FDR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES Osmond Herbert Ecol), Blaby, Leicester, and Bertram Johnson, Braunstone, Leicester, England, assignors t0 Wildt Mellor Bronlley Limited, Leicester, England, a British company Filed Mar. 5, 1968, Ser. No. 710,581 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Mar. 17, 1967, 12,637/ 67 Int. Cl. D04b 9/10, 9/38 US. Cl. 66-14 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A patterning unit for a revolving cam box knitting machine. Unit includes a stack of selectively operated selectors acting on butts on knitting instruments. There is a corresponding stack of turnable auxiliary actuating levers having profiled cam edges to engage tails of selectors. When auxiliary levers are selectively rendered operative, the corresponding selectors are pushed by cam action smoothly and accurately into their operative positions in which they are held by the engagement of a common catch lever with the selected auxiliary levers. Catch lever is operable to release previously selected selectors for return to non-operative positions.

This invention relates to circular knitting machines of the revolving cam box type, and has reference especially to patterning units in or for use in such machines.

In this regard, patterning units provided by the invention are applicable to revolving cam box machines not only of the cylinder and dial type, with or without provision for the transference of loops from cylinder needles to dial needles, and vice versa, but also of the double axially opposed needle cylinder type furnished with a circular set of double-ended latch needles, needle-actuating sliders in both cylinders and means for eifecting, through the medium of the sliders, transference of needles from one cylinder to the other, and vice versa. The invention is also applicable to single cylinder revolving cam box machines in which the stationary needle cylinder has associated therewith a sinker bed incorporating V a set of outside sinkers.

The invention, moreover, is concerned particularly with patterning units of the kind comprising, in combination, a bracket mounted or adapted for mounting upon a revolving cam box, a bank of individually movable selector members fitted in comb inserts in the bracket, pattern controlled programming means for selectively operating the said selector members which latter are in turn adapted to act selectively upon butts on knitting instruments, e.g. either on needles, or on associated jacks, sliders or the like in a stationary needle cylinder for the purpose of actuating needles selectively, and a turnable catch lever which is common to all of the selector members and is operable at each re-selection of these members first in one sense to release previously selected ones for return, under a biassing influence, to their non-operative positions, and then in the reverse sense to function as a check pawl to hold the newly selected members in their operative positions against such a biassing influence.

Now in a patterning unit of the kind herein referred to as heretofore constructed, the selector members have been acted upon in a direct manner by elements of the pattern controlled programming means, and the turnable catch lever, which is of a length to cover the complete bank or stack of such selector members, has been arranged to engage the latter directly. That is to say, the

7 Claims said selector members have themselves been formed with recesses to receive the pawl-like operative end of the catch lever. Naturally, at each re-selection of the selector members it takes a certain amount of time for the catch lever first to be turned in one direction to release previously selected members for return to their non-operable positions for re-selection as aforesaid and then to be turned in the opposite direction to register with and hold in their operative positions the newly selected members. As a result of this inevitable time delay, during which, of course, the cam box is still revolving, the patterning unit passes by several knitting instruments. This is a disadvantage in that the re-selection of the selector members to effect a pattern change or variation takes up so much time as to result in the production on the knitted fabric of a wide and unsightly join which may ultimately require to be cut away.

Another disadvantage of a patterning unit of the kind concerned, as previously constructed, is that in order to ensure full and certain engagement of the catch lever with recesses in selected selector members a certain amount of over-travel of the latter was necessary. This has provided, in practice, to be a dangerous procedure inasmuch that selected members were rarely advanced to precise operative positions and tended, in fact, to run into and collide with the cylinder.

Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide, in or for a circular knitting machine of the revolving cam box type, a generally improved form of patterning unit of the kind herein referred to designed to obviate the aforementioned disadvantages. That is to say, the aim is to provide such a unit which will (a) effect movements of selected selector members safely and exactly into precisely predetermined operative posi tions for action in the manner required upon butts on the knitting instrument, and (b) shorten the time taken to effect a pattern change at a re-selection station, thereby confining the change on the fabric to only one or two, needle wales. The idea, as will be appreciated, is to execute a pattern change in the short time that it takes the revolving cam box to pass by only one or two needles at the re-selection point.

According to the present invention there is provided adjacent to the bank of individually movable selector member of the improved pattern unit, a stack of individually turnable auxiliary actuating levers, one to each selector member, the turnable catch lever being engageable with and disengageable from the said auxiliary levers and the operative ends of the latter having cam portions with suitably profiled edges for direct engagement with the tail ends of the respective selector members, whereby whenever selected auxiliary levers are turned from their inoperative into their operative positions at the dictates of the pattern controlled programming means, the cam portions of these levers will act on the tail ends of the corresponding selector members and push the latter smoothly and accurately into their operative positions.

The following is a description with reference to the accompanying drawings, of a preferred embodiment of the patterning unit as applied to a circular knitting machaine of the double axially opposed needle cylinder type with revolving cam boxes.

Referring to the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a radial cross-sectional elevation of so much of the machine as will suffice to show the connection of the invention therewith, and includes a side elevation of the patterning unit generally,

FIG. 2 is a sectional plan view taken on line 22 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the patterning unit per se in greater detail,

FIG. 4 is a sectional plan view taken on line 44 of FIG. 3, showing the essential parts of the patterning unit on an enlarged scale, and

FIG. is an elevation of the patterning unit as viewed in the direction of the arrow 5 in FIG. 3.

The portion of the machine shown in FIG. 1 includes a stationary lower needle cylinder 1, a double-ended latch needle 2, a needle actuating slider 3 whereby knitting and transfer movements are imparted to the needle 2, a revolving cam box 4 with slider cam systems 5, a complementary stationary cylinder 6, a jack 7, a jack selector 8, a revolving cam box carrier 9 and a patterning unit 10.

As will be understood by those acquainted with knitting machinery of this type the cylinder 1 contains a full complement of needles and sliders. Likewise the cylinder 6 contains a full compement of jacks and jack selectors. The patterning unit 10 is attached by machine screws to a frame 11 which in turn is mounted between the cam box 3 and the carrier 9 to which the frame is affixed by means of machine screws, one of which 12. is shown in FIG. 2. Each of the jack selectors 8 is formed with frangible butts b and all of these selectors together thus provide coursewise tiers of such butts. There are as many selector members 13 in the vertical bank of the patterning unit as there are tiers of butts b.

Although there is no limitation in this respect, it will be assumed for convenience in the following further description that the operative ends of the selector members are formed and arranged for action upon circumferentially spaced obliquely disposed parallel lines of butts pro vided on the knitting instruments. For this purpose, the operative noses of some of the super-imposed selector members of the bank may be laterally oilset with respect to the noses of the remainder of the members.

Again, although it is within the broad scope of the invention for the selector members to function as cams of a form adapted to raise the butts acted upon thereby, it is principally the intention that the said members shall act as pressers for pressing butts into a stationary cylinder for the purpose of determining which knitting instruments shall and which shall not be acted upon by a raising cam.

Accordingly the jack selectors 8 each with a butt b in a predetermined position thereon, are prearranged in the cylinder 6 so as to provide the aforesaid circumferentially spaced obliquely disposed parallel lines of butts. Moreover, the jack selectors are arranged so as to be capable of rocking movement in the cylinder 6 so that when a butt b is acted upon by a selector member 13 as ShOIWIl in FIGS. 1 and 2 the jack selector is pressed back into its trick in the cylinder 6.

Referring more particularly to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 the complete patterning unit illustrated comprises, in brief, a bracket 14, a bank of selector members 13 in the form of independent pressed slides, a corresponding stack of independent auxiliary levers 15 mounted in the bracket adjacent to the tail ends of the said presser slides, and a catch lever 16 mounted on the bracket adjacent to the auxiliary levers 15, and common to all of the auxiliary levers. The auxiliary levers 15 are formed with rounded cam portions 17 (see particularly FIG. 4) providing dwells.

The profiled edges of the cam portions are such as to provide cam rises whereby, when the auxiliary levers 15 are turned through an appropriate arc, i.e. from the inoperative position (shown by dot and dash lines in FIG. 2 and by full lines in FIG. 4) to the operative position (shown by full lines in FIG. 2 and by dot and dash lines in FIG. 4) the corresponding, i.e. selected, presser slides 13 are speedily moved forward, without any over-travel, into accurately predetermined operative positions, FIG. 2 full lines and FIG. 4 dot and dash lines, and are held there until the catch lever 16, functioning as a check pawl, engages and locks the auxiliary levers as shown in FIGS.

2 and 4. Accordingly, the idea is in the first place to speed up the movements of the selected presser slides 13 into their operative positions, by eliminating any over-travel of the same, and in the second place to permit of engagement of the common catch lever 16 with the selected auxiliary levers 15 even after the corresponding presser slides have been so moved. This timing is made possible by virtue of the fact that the catch lever 16 engages the auxiliary levers 15 and not the presser slides themselves as heretofore. Previously, it was the actual engagement of the catch lever with the selected presser slides which finally determined the operative positions of the latter, whereas in the improved arrangement it is the turning of the relevant auxiliary levers 15 which moves the selected presser slides 13 into and determines their operative positions. This being so, it will be realised that, providing the cam portions on the auxiliary levers have dwells adapted temporarily to hold the selected presser slides 13 in their operative positions, the precise instant of time when the catch lever 16 is engaged in the selected auxiliary levers to take over the temporary locking function of the said cam portions is not critical. It is, therefore, in this way that the time interval required to complete a pattern change is reduced to a minimum and confined to a circumferential extent of one or two needle Wales only.

Advantageously, each of the said auxiliary levers 15 is controlled by a spring against the influence of which the lever is turned into its operative position by the pattern controlled programming means and under the influence of which the lever is returned to its inoperative position when it is released as a consequence of disengagement of the catch lever 16 therefrom. In this regard, each of the auxiliary levers may be provided with a lug or a hook to which can be anchored one end of a controlling tension spring.

As shown in detail in FIG. 4 an appropriate edge portion of each or" the auxiliary levers 15 has formed therein a suitably shaped recess 18 so disposed as to be presented opposite to the catch lever 16 whenever the said auxiliary lever is selected and turned into its operative position. Preferably, this recess is located adjacent to the cam portion 17 of the lever. In any event, the edge portion of the auxiliary lever adjoining the said recess also requires to be so inwardly shaped as at 19 as to accommodate the catch lever even when the auxiliary lever is in its inoperative position.

Each of the auxiliary levers 15 may also advantageous- 1y be formed with a radially extending tail 20 adapted to be acted upon by a relevant one of a bank of movable elements, e.g. levers, forming parts of the pattern controlled programming means (not shown). The selective operation of these movable elements may be elfected by solenoids the energisation of which is, in turn, controlled either from a punched card or tape or from appropriately moving light-sensitive means, e.g. through the medium of suitable relays. A wholly mechanical control mechanism may, however, be employed if desired.

The superimposed auxiliary levers 15 are individually turnable about a common fulcrum post 21 which is set in the bracket 14 and has associated therewith comb inserts 22 for separating and guiding the said levers.

Although the individually movable selector members are preferably in the form of relatively thin presser slides 13, there is no limitation in this respect. Thus, for instance, the said members may alternatively consist of levers suitably fulcrummed in the bracket of the patterning unit. Where the slides 13 are employed, these may be engaged in and guided by horizontal slots formed in front and rear combs 23, 24 mounted on the bracket 14 whereby the slides are spaced to correspond with the spacing of the levers 15 in the comb inserts 22. Such slides may conveniently be controlled by pairs of parallel tension springs 25, 26 each of which is anchored at one end to the leading operative end of the relevant slide and at its other end to a corresponding vertical spring anchor post 27, 2-8 (FIG. 3) set in the bracket. The arrangement is such that a selected presser slide is cammed forwardly into its operative position shown in full lines in FIG. 2 and in dot and dash lines in FIG. 4, against the action of the relevant pair of tension springs and, when the corresponding auxiliary lever is released by the catch lever 16, the slide is also released and permitted to withdraw to its inoperative position under the action of the said springs. Stop plates 29 (FIGS. 4 and 5), secured to the front comb 23 may serve to determine the inoperative positions of the slide.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the catch lever 16 (which as aforesaid functions as a check pawl) is attached by screws to a common carrier bar 30 (FIGS. 2 and 4) which is in turn rigidly secured, e.g. keyed, upon a vertical (release) shaft 31 (FIGS. 1-5), mounted to turn in bearings formed in the bracket 14. The lower end of this shaft projects below the bracket and is surrounded by a helical torsion spring 32 (FIGS. 1, 3 and 5) one end of which is anchored to the said bracket while the other end is secured to a collar 32a attached to the shaft. The torsion spring thus located between the bracket and the collar is arranged to turn the catch lever in the direction of the arrow, FIG. 4, to engage the auxiliary levers. The upper end of this same shaft extends above the bracket and has rigidly secured thereon a release lever 33 by means of which the shaft can be turned in a direction against the action of the torsion spring to disengage the catch lever from auxiliary levers, as shown by dot and dash lines in FIG. 4. The said release lever is so disposed as to be in the path of a striker 34, FIG. 2, mounted on a stationary part of the circular knitting machine. Thus, whenever the common catch lever 16 is swung away from the auxiliary levers previously selected ones of said levers and hence the corresponding presser slides, return to their inoperative positions either for reselection or to neutralise the pattern, according to requirements.

Although there is no limitation in this respect, it is primarily the intention that the release lever 33 shall be struck once per revolution of the revolving cam box, and that there shall be one patterning unit per feed in a multi-feed machine.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, if, as may be, the selector members (presser slides) 13 are for convenience divided into separate and distinct groups such as G, G1 having respectively different lateral dispositions of operative noses 13a, 13b and requiring to be selectively actuated at respectively different, i.e. phased times, then the shaft 31 upon which the catch lever carrier bar is mounted may have secured thereto one release lever for such group, i.e. 33, 35, these levers being disposed in different planes heightwise to enable them to be acted upon by correspondingly arranged strikers.

To enable selected auxiliary levers 15 to be returned to their inoperative positions for re-selection at desired times, the catch lever 16 is simply turned clockwise as viewed in FIG. 4. As a consequence, a nose 30a formed on the common carrier bar 30 contacts lugs 15a on the said levers 15 and swings the latter anti-clockwise into their inoperative positions shown in full lines in FIG. 4. Alternatively, the auxiliary levers may be controlled by a torsion spring against the action of which the levers are turned into their operative positions when selected; in this alternative case, the levers are automatically returned into their inoperative positions under the influence of the torsion spring upon their release from the lever 16.

We claim:

1. In a circular knitting machine having a stationary needle cylinder equipped with knitting instruments provided with butts, and a cam box revolving about said cylinder, a patterning unit of the kind comprising, in combination, a bracket mounted upon said revolving cam box; comb inserts in said bracket; a bank of individually movable and biassed selector members fitted in said comb inserts and adapted for action selectively upon the butts for actuating knitting instruments selectively; pattern controlled programming means selectively operating on the selector members, and a turnable catch lever which is common to all the selector members and is operable at each re-selection of the latter first in one sense to release previously selected selector members for return under the biassing influence to their non-operative positions and then in the reverse sense to function as a check pawl to hold the newly selected members in their operative positions against such biassing influence; the improvement in said patterning unit comprising the provision, adjacent to the bank of individually movable selector members, of a stack of individually turnable auxiliary actuating levers, one to each of the selector members, the aforesaid turnable catch lever being engageable with and disengageable from the said auxiliary levers and the operative ends of the latter having cam portions with profiled edges for direct engagement with the tail ends of the selective selector members whereby, whenever selected auxiliary levers are turned from their inoperative into their operative positions at the dictates of the pattern controlled programming means, the cam portions of the auxiliary levers will act on the tail ends of the corresponding selector members and push the latter smoothly and accurately into their operative positions wherein they are held by the engagement of the common catch lever with the selected auxiliary levers.

2. A patterning unit according to claim 1, wherein the profiled edges of the auxiliary levers are respectively such as to constitute cam portions with rises so designed that when selected levers are turned through a predetermined arc the corresponding selector members are speedily pushed without any over-travel into accurate predetermined operative positions, and are held there until the catch lever, functioning as a check pawl, engages and locks the selected auxiliary levers, as and for the purposes specified.

3. A patterning unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the profiled edges of the auxiliary levers are adapted in the first place to speed up the movements of the selected selector members into their operative positions by eliminating any over-travel of the same, and, in the second place, to permit of the engagement of the common catch lever with the selected auxiliary levers even after the corresponding selector members have been so moved.

4. A patterning unit as claimed in claim 3, in which the profiled edges of the respective auxiliary levers are in the form of rounded cam portions providing dwells adapted temporarily to hold the selected selector members in their operative positions whereby the precise instant of time when the catch lever is engaged with selected auxiliary levers to take over the temporary locking function of the aforesaid profiled edges is not critical, with the result described.

5. A patterning unit according to claim 1, wherein each of the auxiliary levers has formed therein a recess shaped and so disposed as to be presented, opposite to the catch lever whenever the lever by selection is turned into its operative position and the edge portion of the auxiliary lever adjoining the recess is so inwardly shaped as to accommodate the operative end of the catch lever even when the auxiliary lever is in its inoperative position.

6. A patterning unit according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliarylevers and the selector members are respectively controlled by springs against the influence of which the selected levers and members are moved into operative position and under the influence of which they are returned to inoperative position, the catch lever is spring biased and at least one release lever is connected with the catch lever for action upon a striker in timed relation to selection of the auxiliary levers whereby the catch lever is tripped against the bias and returned under the bias so as respectively (a) to release selected auxiliary levers with their associated selector members and lock them in the operative positions, and (b) to re-engage previously selected auxiliary levers and hence corresponding selector members returned to their inoperative position, either for re-selection or to neutralise the pattern according to requirements.

7. A patterning unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the auxiliary levers are fulcrumed upon a common post set in a carrier bracket fitted with comb inserts for separating and guiding the levers, and the catch lever is rigidly secured upon an adjacent shaft mounted to turn on the bracket against and under the influence of a torsion spring at one end of the shaft with at least one release lever rigidly secured on the opposite end of the shaft for action upon by a striker so that the catch References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,737,597 12/1929 1 Lombardi 6625 XR 1,972,044 8/1934 Howie 66-50 7 3,229,482 1/1966 Farmer 66-50 3,423,960 1/1969 Wiesinger et al. 66--25 WM. CARTER REYNOLDS, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

